Wednesday, 19 May 2010

tapTap is a construction toy capturing a fascination with rhythm and fidgeting.

The system is built up of individual knock boxes. Each box has its own memory and is completely self-contained. As you tap on the top of a box, the box waits for a few seconds and then taps back what it has heard. If you want more you add another box, and another, and another, tap, tap, tap.

Stacking the boxes creates longer and more complex rhythm lines as the patterns tumble down the resulting pyramids. By tapping for longer than the delay period you play a duet with the box as it repeats your earlier rhythms.

Audio delays are often only that, audible, tapTap renders them physical. The boxes themselves do not learn or loop, they only repeat. This keeps the system as simple as possible. There is no perpetual motion only tap, pause and tap. At 4 seconds the delay is just long enough to give the boxes a life of their own… just long enough to wonder if they have forgotten.

He completed an MA in Interaction Design at theRoyal College of Art in 2005 where he specialised in developing musical interfaces. Prior to that he gained a BA in Commercial Music at theUniversity of Westminster in 2001, during the last 2 years of which he became increasingly interested in interactive music technologies. In 2000 he joined London based studio Romandson as a sound designer/composer completing a number of projects for web, CDrom and exhibition. Following this period he spent 18 months as a consultant in the interactive department at Fabrica (Benetton’s Communication Research Centre, in Treviso, Italy) creating performance software, DVDs,CDroms, soundtoys, a 4 month interactive exhibition called DARE at The American Museum of the Moving Image (New York) and developingUnited People (a video messaging system for Benetton stores).

Since 2005 he has co-directed and developedOpen Futures filmitfor theHelen Hamlyn Trustwhich provides a simple platform and framework for video making and sharing in primary schools in the UK and India.

Andy Huntington has been playing with interaction, music and sound for the last seven years. Having trained as a musician he became interested in using digital technology to make music. He then became interested in using digital technology to help other people make music. Whilst working with studios like romandson he worked on a number of interactive sound pieces and subsequently worked with the interaction department at Fabrica (Benetton's Communication Research Centre) creating performance software, soundtoys, and a four-month interactive exhibition DARE at AMMI (New York). By studying at the Royal College of Art's Interaction Design department he moved from screen and speaker based work to explore physical interfaces and interactions. Throughout all his work there is an emphasis on creating simple, immediate and playful experiences.